As The Sweet Hereafter opens, a tragic bus accident resulting in the deaths of fourteen children has taken place in the small, rural town of Sam Dent in upstate New York. Each of four characters addresses the reader, describing in turn how the accident affected him or her.
Dolores Driscoll, the first narrator, has been a school bus driver for twenty-two years and was driving the bus at the time of the accident. She lives with her husband, Abbott, who has been wheelchair- bound since suffering a devastating stroke. Dolores recalls the events of the day of the accident, describing many of the children and their families. First, she picks up the Lamston kids, three quiet children who come from a dysfunctional home. Next, she picks up eleven-year-old Bear Otto, the adopted Native-American.....
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